The Real Deal New York

Clockwise from top left: A former investment chief for George Soros lists Southampton’s Wyndecote for $22.5M, a modern Montauk compound owned my real estate investor Michael Hirtenstein sells for $18.1M, tenants at Amagansett’s Lazy Point could soon get longer leases after an East Hampton vote and a 109-year-old Southampton home finds a buyer after listing for $9.95M.

Ex-Soros investment chief seeks $22.5M for Southampton home
Scott Bessent, who previously served as chief investment officer for the $30 billion family office controlled by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, has listed his Southampton home for $22.5 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bessent, who in 2016 founded the hedge fund Key Square Group, is trying to unload the home at 354 South Main Street as pricey Hamptons home sales have slowed and inventory has surged compared to the same time last year, as recently noted by The Real Deal, citing data from Douglas Elliman. The 11,000-square-foot home, known as Wyndecote, has three floors, 10 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, three half-bathrooms, seven fireplaces, a wine cellar, a gym and a home theater. Architect John David Rose renovated the entire home, which was built in 1887. The renovation reportedly won Rose the 2018 AIA Peconic design award for outstanding achievement in historic preservation. Rose refurbished Wyndecote’s wainscotting, staircase banisters, lead-paned windows, coffered ceilings and several other of its original touches. R.H. Robertson, a famous architect who died in 1919, built Wyndecote for himself. The home once hosted the Duke of Windsor and the King of Spain. Its grounds currently include a pool and pool house. Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing for Bessent, who bought the property in 2012 for roughly $9.95 million. [TRD]

Modern Montauk compound sells for $18.1M, just less than ask
An oceanfront estate in Montauk owned by technology, real estate and nightlife investor Michael Hirtenstein officially sold for $18.1 million on Feb. 28, according to Mansion Global. The home at 230 & 234 Old Montauk Highway, built in 2006 and designed by architect James Biber, was bought by Hirtenstein for $13 million in early 2013. The property, which hit the market last year at $21 million, went to contract in December. It includes a three-level, 5,500-square-foot main house is hurricane-proof despite being made from steel-framed glass, according to Mansion Global. It includes a gourmet kitchen, roof deck and wraparound terraces. A separate 2,400-square-foot glass guest house has two bedrooms, one bathroom and an eat-in kitchen. The property made headlines in 2017 when Tinder rented the home at $135,000 a month and held several parties and events there. Mansion Global noted that Robert Danker, president of New York City-based Prime Manhattan Residential, brought in the buyer. The Corcoran Group’s Gary DePersia had the listing for Hirtenstein, who has also bought and sold luxury properties in Manhattan. [Mansion Global]

Lazy Point tenants eye longer leases after East Hampton vote
East Hampton Town Trustees are preparing to extend leases for residents of Amagansett’s Lazy Point on Gardiner’s Bay, the East Hampton Star reported. Lazy Point residents own their own homes, but lease the land beneath them. Ever since 2013, when trustees raised the annual rent by 50 percent, up to $1,500, tenants have been calling for new lease terms that would let them get mortgages. Their leases have also been year-to-year, which has made it hard to get the type of mortgages and loans that would let residents make property improvements. East Hampton trustees, who have drawn half of their annual revenue from the leases and a 4 percent transfer fee on Lazy Point home sales implemented in 2015, have gradually warmed to the idea. Joan Priore, secretary of the Lazy Point Neighborhood Association, told the East Hampton Star that better-maintained homes will generate higher transfer fees when they sell. Trustees are weighing a proposal that’s “close to a final draft,” which they hope to soon show the public for comment, the outlet reported. [EHS]

Historic Southampton home sells after listing for $9.95M
A 109-year-old Southampton home has found a buyer after coming on the market in October for $10.45 million and then having its price chopped to $9.95 million, Curbed reported. Built in 1910, the 4,057-square-foot home at 270 Ox Pasture Road has eight bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, an eat-in chef’s kitchen with modern appliances, a wine cellar and other features. Sitting on 2.7 acres, the property has room enough for a 10,000-square-foot addition, according to the listing with Saunders & Associates’ Mark Greenwald. Curbed noted the sellers, whose deal with a buyer is still pending, have owned the property since 1978. “I found a buyer that appreciated the need to preserve the historical and architectural significance of this turn-of-the century house and its classic Southampton heritage,” Greenwald told the outlet. [Curbed]

Hamptons summer rental season starts to heat up
The home sales market on Long Island’s affluent East End may be down from the stratospheric heights it reached in previous years, but luxury short-term rentals are on the rise, several Hamptons-based brokers told The Real Deal for a story in its inaugural Tri-State issue. “Short-term rentals have become the fad,” Drew Green of Saunders & Associates in Southampton told TRD. Ed Bruehl, a colleague of Green’s at Saunders in East Hampton, noted to TRD that Hamptons homeowners and renters can benefit from savvy short-term rentals. “[Homeowners] can go long on a property that carries itself and makes them a little bit of money, and when the buyers come back in a year or two, sell it at a profit in a market that has real buyers, rather than the hesitant buyer looking for a steal of a deal,” Bruehl said. The New York Post also recently looked at several of the most extravagant Hamptons rental properties hitting the market ahead of summer, including an oceanfront retreat in Sagaponack available for a mere $800,000. [TRD]

Famous photog’s former Montauk home hits rental market
Perched atop an oceanfront bluff in Montauk, the former home of iconic photographer Richard Avedon is available to rent for the summer at a $495,000 price tag, Curbed reported. The owners hope to rent it out for the entire season — Memorial Day to Labor Day — but it’s also available for shorter stints, with June priced at $125,000 and July going for $175,000. The 3,500-square-foot home at 430 Old Montauk Highway was built in 1980 and has five bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms, a large eat-in kitchen, ocean views throughout and a staircase to a private ocean beach. Tenants would also be able to use the caretaker’s home, the pool and a studio on the 3.2-acre property, which is one of three parcels. Avedon owned the property for 20 years until he sold it for $9 million in 2000 as part of a larger 7.5-acre compound. Avedon, who gained fame as a fashion photographer before transitioning into a more documentary style, died in 2004. Douglas Elliman’s Paul Brennan has the rental listing for the property’s current owners, East End architect Frederick Stelle and his wife Bettina, who Behind the Hedges reports mostly live in North Haven near Sag Harbor. [Curbed]